Praying mantis as feeders?

[kwengkynator]

I recently ordered this from amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LTFMAY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2 Mantis egg cases with decent reviews I thought it would be a good deal? Now I'm second guessing myself. First, housing these bugs needs to be housed separately or the will cannibalize each other. How do I gutload them? What size are they safe for the my chams? Ive seen a video of a mantis take down a hummingbird! It wasn't pretty! Interesting though! It seems like these are quite a handful being a feeder. Should I just feed them to my chams the moment they hatch so less trouble housing etc. Will my chams get any substantial nutrients from that though?

Any comments? Thanks

 

[Masked Gecko]

From what I understand they wont eat each other as long as there is plenty of space and food for them, althought that might change as they grow. What size chams are you feeding, when they hatch they wont be that big. I only hatced 9 out of mine tho lol, I let them grow to feed them off but decided to keep 1 as they were very interesting to me . Hope I was of some help.

 

[kwengkynator]

I have 2 juveniles veiled chams. A picky male and a food guzzling female. I actually have no accurate date of their age. I rescued both of them from friends who could no longer keep them.

 

[Masked Gecko]

The newly hatched mantids might be too small.

 

[kwengkynator]

Ill look into breeding them. It should be around 2 to 3 weeks so I have time on my side

 

[junglefries]

As long as you have melan. fruit flies and space, they shouldn't cannalbalize each other too much until second molt.

 

[kwengkynator]

Any tips on keeping matids as feeders? Food requirements, housing, water source, gut loading and dusting?

 

[KrazyChams1]

Any tips on keeping matids as feeders? Food requirements, housing, water source, gut loading and dusting?

Mantids are great feeders for your chameleon. Keeping them can take a lot of time and effort. After there first or second molt they will eat each other so you will have to split them up individually. Praying mantids will eat fruit flies and pin head crickets when they are a baby. Here is how i keep mine, they are in 32oz and 16oz containers.

 

[kwengkynator]

Seems like a good idea. Transparent cups are easy to get a hold of. Ill use those. Crickets and fruit flies huh.. Im not too fond of crickets in my place. The smell is just too much for me. Although I will look into fruit flies. What are the temperature requirement and breeding procedure and benefits of having them as feeders? Are they really that cost and time efficient or can be a handful compared to say, silk or supers?

 

[frankpayne32]

They make great feeders. Especially for small and baby chameleons. Keeping them long term is space and time consuming though. I like to just place the egg case in the cage attached to a plant and let the mantids hatch out. The chameleons will just pick them off. This works especially well if you are keeping several newborn chameleons together in the same enclosure.

 

[t9dragon]

How long does it take for the eggs to hatch?

 

[junglefries]

I ordered one from there just to try them out.

 

[frankpayne32]

How long does it take for the eggs to hatch?

Depends, they can be kept in suspended animation for a few months in the fridge. The seller should be able to tell you about how long it will take for your cases to hatch. Usually a week or two at warmer temperatures.

 

[kwengkynator]

Damn... Im gonna be really busy in this next semester for college. I think I wont be able to be as successful as I thought into this. I have 2 juvenile chams so feeding them new hatchings wont do them any good.

Ill try anyways just for experience. Ill see how far I can go and learn from there. I do have a good dubia roach colony to supply food for them so that wont be an issue.

I can see doing this project again when my dubia colony BOOMS into massive number. A good population control for overgrown feeder insect population.

 

[junglefries]

Damn... Im gonna be really busy in this next semester for college. I think I wont be able to be as successful as I thought into this. I have 2 juvenile chams so feeding them new hatchings wont do them any good.

Ill try anyways just for experience. Ill see how far I can go and learn from there. I do have a good dubia roach colony to supply food for them so that wont be an issue.

I can see doing this project again when my dubia colony BOOMS into massive number. A good population control for overgrown feeder insect population.

Seems not too bad. Read for hours on them yesterday. Main thing seems to be separation and cleanliness. Find what cages or containers works for you. Keep maybe a couple of each sex. Done. (Maybe watch Marco Polo on Netflix. The "Cricket Minister" (keeps praying mantis) may invigorate you towards them. I plan on letting my kid keep a couple.

 

[kwengkynator]

Still gonna go for them and will probably give some to my parents they have a thriving garden a natural pest control would be great for them!

Wish me luck